Veruk
Veruk is a free hero in Kingdom Rush: Vengeance. Veruk is unlocked at the tutorial stage, Vez'nan's Tower. Description Veruk, the honored orc tribal warrior, escaped a life of slavery at the gladiatorial pits in favor of one of leadership among the warmongers. He now spends his newfound freedom aiding his fellow greenskins in their flight. '' Veruk, the Warmonger leader, stands proudly in front of his forces as he watches the plains that will soon become a battlefield. He rubs his wrists remembering the shackles that once stole his freedom, the same shackles that would come off once a day when he was forced to fight as a gladiator, turning the sands red with the blood of beasts and his fellow greenskins to stay alive. As the years went by, he grew accustomed to seeing those who he called brothers perish on the sands, some would meet their end in the glory of battle, some would die just for defying their captors’ will. But Veruk fought on, year after year he fought on knowing that one day he would break free and with his newfound freedom lead the Warmongers to the gates of the human realm. He now raises his weapon pointing at the enemy forces, and with a voice heavy with years of suffering, yawps “Chaaaaaaarge!!!” More Lore (Veruk, the Warmonger's Leader) The sun was setting over the tents, Veruk watched while an ogre and an orc set up a campfire, not far away, a goblin was busy bringing the meat that would soon be cooked. If he had said this could be true not too long ago, he would have been called delusional. Ogres, Orcs, and Goblins do not mix; this is the motto he had heard since he was a young kid. He learned to stay away from those Greenskins whereabouts. Each race thought of themselves as higher and mightier than the others. This grudge was as old as time, so much that no one knew what started it anymore. The only thing worse than Ogres and goblins were the bandits. Those humans were frail, but they compensated it with a sharp mind. The Kingpin's men knew how to set a trap that could capture even the smartest of Greenskins. He learned this the hard way: by falling prey to one while trying to save his kinsman. The Bandits would not only steal his freedom but also treat them like animals, used to entertain the bloody tastes of their master: the Kingpin. Veruk rubbed his wrists, remembering the shackles that would come off once a day when he was forced to fight as a gladiator, turning the sands red with the blood of beasts to stay alive. It was on those sands that he learned to call any Greenskin a brother and helped them stay alive one more day, until that evening when he led a revolution against their captors and escaped. His bravery became a legend on every Greenskin village and soon hordes of Orcs, Ogres, and goblins approached him looking for his protection and wisdom. Old quarrels were forgotten, and Veruk became their leader and hero, an honor he never asked for. Now it's his fate and destiny to lead the Warmongers to the gates of the human realm and guide his people, the Greenskins, to victory. Skills Primary '''AIMED SLASHES' (active, cooldown: 15 seconds) (3/3/3 hero points): :A swift and powerful technique. Slashes an enemy twice, dealing 90/180/270 physical damage to the target. BRUTE FORCE (active, cooldown: 16/15/14 seconds) (1/2/3 hero points): :Veruk smashes the ground, stunning nearby enemies (min 3, max 5) for 1/2/4 seconds with the impact. DUELIST (passive) (2/3/4 hero points): :While in combat, Veruk gains up to 24/60/108% bonus attack damage that grows as long as he fights the same target. Base damage increases by 8/20/36% per tick, gains one tick every 5 seconds. It takes 10 seconds to gain the maximum. INSPIRING LEADER (active, cooldown: 20/18/15 seconds) (1/2/3 hero points): :Summon a pair of goblins to aid in combat. They last 10 seconds on the battlefield. Ultimate Spell ENTER THE WARMONGERS (active, cooldown: 40 seconds) (2/2/2 hero points): :Calls a pair of trained warmongers to aid Veruk in the battlefield. They last 10 seconds. Secondary WARLUST :Veruk regenerates 1/2/3 HP per second at Hero Level 1/5/10. :(The description is misleading on mobile in that it says the regeneration activates when Veruk is close to death.) Stats Tips and Tricks Veruk is a melee hero who tanks and stalls opponents with the occasional help of other units that he summons. He can keep a choke point completely safe with some supports and barracks to back him up. *Veruk is a decently tanky and strong hero. His damage or armor won't blow all the enemies away, but they won't blow him away either, plus he has a consistent heal rate with Warlust as his ability. He moves faster than expected for a melee hero - he's not going to beat Asra, Margosa, or Tramin in a race, but he's faster than Oloch, Jigou and Mortemis, which is a good thing. All of his abilities also have very short cooldowns, making him able to handle himself for a while. For 15 seconds, he can do 195-570 damage to enemies with no other abilities, just his melee attacks. *'Aim Slashes' is Veruk's main damage source. Every 15 seconds, he will slash an enemy twice, inflicting huge damage. This acts as a fast clean up of an already weakened enemy, and will often secure a kill. Combine this with some magic damage and you will be set for most situations. *'Brute Force' is Veruk's main group stun, though the ability doesn't do much damage and therefore it is more of an occasional crowd control ability. Stall the enemy you want to stun with Barracks, and hope that he delivers. It will only activate when 3 or more enemies get into Veruk's range. Take advantage of it and get some towers to do damage while the enemies are stunned. *'Inspiring Leader' and Enter the Warmongers are both summoning skills. Both of them gives you 2 minions, either goblins or warmongers. While they don't have any game-changing gimmicks, they do a surprising amount of damage and can last long enough to be useful. When there is a rush of enemies likes Clockwork Spiders and Apex Shards coming, stalling them with these two abilities is always recommended, but they can still overwhelm your defenses. *Veruk's Duelist is a handy and unique ability. As long as he keeps fighting, he will gain more and more damage until he hits the cap. Decently tanky enemies will fall easily because of this, and it will allow Veruk to one-on-one enemies he couldn't otherwise. Make sure to keep him in combat constantly so that the timer don't reset, or you have to wait for him to gain all of the bonus damage again. *There are two main strategies for Veruk. One, abuse Duelist and let Veruk fight enemies constantly. Two, let him use all of his abilities, then retreat him to let Aim Slashes '''and Brute Force to recharge, then repeat the process over and over. **The first one is almost always more effective, especially for enemies like Smokebeard Engineers, Stonebeard Geomancers, Nanoq Warbears, Svell Druids, Paladins, Golem Houses, War Wagons and especially Shieldbearers - enemies boasting high health and armor, which Veruk with '''Duelist can overcome as long as he constantly fights them, and his armor and Warlust '''mean that their attacks just bounce off him. **The second one is more situation-specific. It should generally be used against MechaDwarf MK.9s, Frost Giants, Northern Berserkers, High Sorcerers and Paragons, as they have great HP and damage - Veruk cannot '''Duelist his way out of battles like these. They do too much damage too fast for Veruk to heal up, and will shred him in 2 or 3 hits. In this case, burst damage from Aim Slashes, stuns from Brute Force, the allies Veruk summons and the towers you bought will have to do the job. Wait patiently, use barracks to stall them, activate your abilities, than move him away quickly. This, while not perfect (Veruk will spend a lot of time doing nothing), is reliable enough to bring down enemies with reasonable effectiveness. Groups of large enemies will require some more stalling, so set your defense up accordingly. **Ranged enemies pose a challenge for Veruk due to his lack of a ranged attack, and enemies like Northern Huntresses and Musketeers will simply use him for target practice. Send him away, or force them into melee, as in most cases their melee damage is nothing. Veruk cannot hit flying enemies, so avoid Gryphon Bombardiers at all costs. *Veruk is a good middle ground for heroes. He has some strong points, some weak points, but overall, he a hero that is viable in almost every loadout you use. But if you need some long range attackers, then Asra and Oloch may better suit your taste. Related Upgrades Quotes * "Strength and honor." * "Are you not entertained!?" * "Man flesh!" * "Brawl beats brawn." * (death) "Freedom!" Trivia * Veruk's attire is based entirely on the gladiators from the 4th century, during the Roman Empire's time. His origin story is also a reference to Spartacus, a Thracian gladiator who managed to beat the Romans with just a handful of gladiators in the Third Servile War. His name and other design features are directly taken from Varok Saurfang from World of Warcraft. * "Strength and honor." **A line spoken by several characters in the 2000 film Gladiator. It is used as both a greeting and farewell. * "Are you not entertained?" **A line spoken by Maximus when standing in the arena, in the 2000 film Gladiator. * "Manflesh" **A line said by an Orc in the 2002 film, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. * "Freedom!" **This single word is taken from an iconic moment in the film Braveheart following the life of William Wallace. Gallery DeathGif_Veruk.gif|"Freedom!" Category:Kingdom Rush: Vengeance Category:Heroes Category:Melee Heroes